The invention relates to a communication terminal having a predictive editor application for entering and editing data. Such a terminal can be a cellular or cordless phone or a communicator. The editor is used for editing text for message handling, phonebook editing a and searching etc.
Tegic Communications, Inc has developed an intelligent software protocol that allows the user to enter ambiguous key strokes into an electronic device. The predictive editor program, named T9(copyright), automatically determines from all the possible matches, the intended word. The predictive editor program matches entered keystrokes with completed words from a linguistic database. This concept is subject for U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,437 and WO 98/33111.
An object of the invention is to provide a communication terminal using the predictive editor program allowing the user in an easy way also to include words not being present in the linguistic database of the predictive editor program.
This object is a chieved by a communication terminal having a display; a keypad having a plurality of keys associated with several letters each; processor means controlling the display means in accordance with the operation of the keypad; a predictive editor program for generating an output containing a word matching a received string of ambiguous key strokes; an editor application controlled by the processor means for editing a text based on the predictive editor programs interpretation of the key strokes received from the editor application, and comprising means for storing a list of matching words received from said predictive editor program, at least a part of said text string is displayed in the display; said keypad includes at least one softkey whose functionality is displayed in the display and controlled by the processor means; and when said editor program runs out of possible word matches to the received key stroke string, said processor means changes the functionality of said at least one softkey to a short cut to another editor application for inputting word based upon unambiguous key strokes. As soon as the predictive editor program has no matches the processor defines a short cut via one soft key and when pressing this soft key an un ambiguous editor appears in the display. Hereby the user is allowed to enter the word, e.g. by multi-tapping of the keys. The user does not have to access this editor via the menu of the terminal. The switch has hereby become very easy and intuitive.
The input display of the another editor application has a text entry box, and said text entry box is cleared when entering the other editor application. The another editor application has a text entry box, and said text entry box is cleared when entering the other editor application.
The processor means in said other editor application sets the functionality of said at least one softkey acceptance of the entered word, whereby the word is inserted in the text string handled by the editor application using the predictive editor program. The editor application based on the predictive editor program continues as if all words have been entered by using the predictive editor program. No settings have to be changed even though two different editor applications have been used.